Hi I have a right c7 c8 radiculopathy bilateral L5 radiculopathy and mild bilateral carpal tunnels and I am experiencing numbness and tingling of my left side face and my scalp and left arm. As well as muscle twitching which started after the numbness. Doctor says its not from pinched neck nerve but I think it is because all these symptoms happened at once after I had a weird temple headache that lasted 2 weeks. Then came weird twitching. Doctors say that a pinched nerve in the neck can not cause facial numbness or scalp tingling or even muscle twitches. I don't even know how I got this injured. I'm only in my mid twenties!!!

I have read on some sites it can and some sites it can not because the neck controls the arms, and shoulders. The pinched nerve in my back causes feet numbness and leg spasms. I'm confused but I am also convinced that my neck injury is causing my face problems. Right now at this very moment the middle of my lip is numb and my cheek just twitched. Now my hands are feeling numb. Earlier my neck started hurting and I had pins and needles in my shoulder. I really think this is due to my pinched nerves!!!! My doctor says that face symptoms might be MS but why is all this linked together and I have pinched nerves as well. My ear is also hurting but no infection. Someone please help me. Is anyone else out there having my symptoms????

Hate to agree with your doc but your face problems are not from the neck problems.

I'm not saying that neck problems NEVER cause facial numbness but your problem is at C6-7 and those nerves go to the arm. The nerves that do serve part of the face are at C3-4 and the nerves that go to the scalp are at C2-3.....well above the area that you have a problem.

Also, most nerves to the face actually come directly from the brain....the so-called 12 cranial nerves. And with all the nerve problems I've had in my neck, twitching is not one of them.

There is no rule in medicine that says you can't have 2 problems develop at the same time.

If I were you, I would follow up with a neurologist and see if it is something like MS is developing....the symptoms can be very similar in the early stages.....my best friend and I has very similar symptoms and it turned out I had neck problems and she had MS.

Also....did you notice that the problem in your neck is listed as being only on the right side yet you have left sided numbness....that should not happen either.

There are 3 ways a neck problem manifests itself...pinching the nerve on one side or the other(or both) and pinching the spinal cord itself. You list the only neck area being pinched as the right at C6-7 and that would affect the middle finger of your right hand and some muscle weakness/aching in the right arm. No face or scalp or even the entire left arm like you describe.

Do a search for something called a Dermatome Chart and you can see for yourself where the nerves in the neck control and you'll see that you have a bigger problem.

I wish you luck in finding out what is wrong and please let us know when you find out...okay?

sorry you are having to deal with this. i have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind. more info just really helps us to try and help you. did this doc you reported that severe ongoing temple pain to EVER actually send you for a good contrasted MRI that would at least try and see if ANYTHING that is a possible vascular issue may be or have been behind this? there are usually only two real underlying things that CAN cause sensory loss in us, and one is lack of good bloodflow to any given area it supplies, and the other is nerve damage/impairment of some kind. and sometimes you can have a bit of both depending upon exactly what the underlying problems are. but it most definitely takes a knowledgable neuro to simply start some more common sense and logical testing in the 'key' area(s) too to even know anything really.

while they ARE right about the neck nerves NOT being able to go up to the areas where your numbness actually is, unless they have done an actual best done WITH a contrasting agent type of MRI on your brain, they have NO real clue yet just what 'could be' the more underlying reason FOR that facial sensory loss. the area just below that temple(over the temporal bone) is where whats called the 'trigeminal ganglion' runs thru to the face, then seperates outward to innervate the facial areas it covers. that particular nerve IS a pretty wide range in coverage and does cover most of the more side to front parts of the face but runs from two seperate 'sides on into the face? do ya know what i mean? one side covers the right, and the other covers the left. these stop right at pretty much midline OF our faces. like half and half but innervated from different directions?

i have trigeminal damage in this area from my spinal cord surgery where they had to place my head into a 'headframe'. this frame actually screws into the top forehead down into the actual bone and right smack over the temporal bones too, and i mean INTO the bone. for the first year, i had my entire R eye felt like it was no longer a part of the rest of my face. it slowly got better, but i keep getting "twitching" at the outter corner of my R eye, also in a spot directly below that eye(about an inch down from eye) and at the R corner of my mouth too(all my crap IS only the R side). but this nerve is one you really NEED to look up just to see how this runs in correlation to where YOUR more prominent symptoms are. only you know for certain where this would be. and just see if that does fit within the trigeminal, and the way IT simply innervates. this would at least allow you to know what potential nerves are being impacted. this just 'could be' related to that more sudden ongoing headpain you had, esp if this was or is some type of a vascular malformation there? or even a smaller vessel that had a bleed. it just CAN happen unfortuently. but you DO need to know whats up if NOT spinal related, and more than likely it would be something vasc or nerve or a combo inside the 'head/brain area.

i would go back to yopur doc after doing some research on the trigeminal and ask him about simply ruling out or in, ANY potential issues that simply could be within your brain. using that contrast agent for this type of brain MRI REALLY does highlight all of the inner vascular really well and NEEDS to be added to the order for sure. otherwise, some vessels and things like certain aneurysms, depending upon location usually, simply can be somewhat hidden. my brain anuerysm never showed up on the non contrasted MRI i had had done, but DID on an MRA and a 3 teslsa acan. i have kidney disease so i cannot use contrast anymore. but this is what i would be asking my doc to refer me for if i was feeling what you were. and could use contrast. you just need to find the reasons for esp the facial symptoms since they can be stemming from a problem that could be many things but would almost have to be somewhere in the brain/head. some of your other radicu symptoms also could be interconnected in particular ways too depending upon whats going on in the brain as well as what you have in the lower c spine as well.

any good diagnosis simply takes doing the most logical types of tests for that patients actual symptoms. your doc should be doing this FOR you. common sense. i wish you luck with this. please let me know what you find out. marcia

Thanks...I really hope this isn't MS!! :'( I am a single mother of 2 and trying to complete school for Speech Pathology. The doctor wrote for me to have a MRI of the head C Spine and T spine with and without contrast but my ins denied it saying not medically necessary!! I am waiting until January for another insurance company to kick in. I just really don't think this is MS because of the weird temple ache I had for 2 weeks and prior to the weird temple ache I had my ears stopping up on and off and I couldn't pop them and now sometimes they pulsate. I wonder if you can feel a lesion when it is forming and maybe that was the temple ache relating to MS lesion forming.......IDK but whatever happened when I had that temple ache triggered something because as soon as it went away there came the numbness. My first thought was a blood vessel too but doctors wont listen to me....I'm making a appointment for tomorrow to ask my Primary care for a MRA but they probably wont do it. I already had B12,Sjrogrens,Scleraderma,LUPUS,lymes test,etc and ALL are NORMAL.

I have trigeminal neuralgia, it developed after my c3-7 problems, and as others have stated, it has nothing to do with your neck nerves. But as I said, I developed facial pain and numbness, and have talked with many others who did also, you mentioned your ear aching, I also have burning tongue, jaw joint pain, twitching, and headache. I have all of this primarily on one side of my face. I have no clue why this would develop at the same time as my neck deterioration but I wanted to drop you a line or two and let you know your not alone. Best of luck.

I have trigeminal neuralgia, it developed after my c3-7 problems, and as others have stated, it has nothing to do with your neck nerves. But as I said, I developed facial pain and numbness, and have talked with many others who did also, you mentioned your ear aching, I also have burning tongue, jaw joint pain, twitching, and headache. I have all of this primarily on one side of my face. I have no clue why this would develop at the same time as my neck deterioration but I wanted to drop you a line or two and let you know your not alone. Best of luck.

Really....how did u get tested for c5 and up? I think my EMG and NCV test only covered c5 and down. Also if you don't mind me asking...Did you have a MRI of your brain and neck. Did they find any lesions for your TN?? Is your TN related to MS in any way?? Thank you so much for your reply.

I am presently experiencing the same symptoms and other issues and had a Brain MIR and complete C/T/L spine MIR last month and my Orthopedics surgeon sent me to a neurosurgeon for a consultation. The neurosurgeon said I have symptoms of Dejerine's "onion-peel sensory loss". I hope this helps.

I am presently experiencing the same symptoms and other issues and had a Brain MIR and complete C/T/L spine MIR last month and my Orthopedics surgeon sent me to a neurosurgeon for a consultation. The neurosurgeon said I have symptoms of Dejerine's "onion-peel sensory loss". I hope this helps.

OMG really you do...I am about to look that up. I am soooo scared right now. I'm scared I have MS but it doesn't make sense to me I know I have the pinched nerve because of the EMG/NCV test I had but I don't know why I have the face/scalp symptoms they all occured at the same time...What are all your symptoms if you don't mind me asking...are they all the same or just some??? Thank yo so much!! I haven't had the MRI yet I have to wait until January...I'm sooo scared I have been sooo stressed from this...It's scary! I can't find much info on Dejerine's I just tried to google it. So do you have lesions or anything or is this from a spinal injury? If so what parts of the spine are involved and did they say anything was MS related? Or is this totally from the spine being damaged? Sorry for the questions you are the only one who can relate.. Thanks again.

SG, what were the results of your EMG/NCV? these reports usually state right at the very top, either "normal or abnormal' EMG, if something was off with velocitys tested. why did they "only' do from c 5 on down and not simply start AT the top then down(since they were there anyways)? do you have your own copy of THAT report? if not, get one and also START keeping copies of ANY and ALL testing results simply so you HAVE your own medical file at home and more importantly, so you can also read thru everything yourself. i have been doing this for many years now, for me and my son, who also has major medical problems. it helps in many ways just to always have your own stuff in hand.

i just love ins co's who could tell you NO to VERY needed testing when they had to have been told what your symptoms were, and esp that temple headpain and could STILL deny you ANY inside your brain type testing. i would not go the MRA route just yet only because you are still in that 'diagnostic phase" and the fullest look at the whole brain is simply VERY needed right now. they would NOT be able to see the softer tissue with just an MRA, as in any possible 'other' types of problems including to rule out any possible MS lesions. the MRA is ONLY all blood vessel structures and nothing else(the films look like some kind of really messed up highway map with squiggles like all over the place). the contrasted MRI tho IS an absolute need just to see inside your brain and head in the very best ways(along with also getting that look at the spinal too). like i mentioned before, that contrast WILL very much highlight your major blood vessels and more than likely would be able to see any possible forming vascular problems and also would be able to see if you had ANY actual bleeds of ANY kind. they look for what is called "hemosiderin staining". this is the iron deposits that just get left behind when anything bleeds inside the brain or the spinal cord. the CNS tissue just will absorb every other part of our blood BUT the iron in it. thats what they look for basically, iron 'deposits" for evidence of bleed(even any older bleeds would STILL show). so just obtaining that one contrasted MRI to start would help alot. you are just in the test and rule in or out phase here. once they are simply able to see inside there and know if there is anything there at all, that dictates kind of what comes next in this ongoing saga we just go thru whenever we are trying to find 'reasons' for our symptoms. your doc just ordered ALOT of what i think your ins co may have 'felt" was a bit much all at once so they just denied everything kind of thing? if he had ONLY started with that contrasted MRI, they probably may have paid out for that. just guessin here. ins cos unfortunetly HATE to pay out money anyways so who knows. but they 'should have' at the very least with what you had as symptomology, okayed the contrasted MRI and allowed THAT much, just for ruling out a possible brain bleed or forming aneurysm considering.

the main reason my anuerysm did NOT show up on plain MRI was that it was still thankfully in the smaller stages(i had absolutley NO headpain with mine) and it was also located right in the bend of a 'branch' artery so it was just hard to fully make out the outpouching of that without the needed contrast(it more than likely would have shown had i been able to do it WITH contrast tho). thats when i was sent for the MRA which totally saw it all perfectly. my only real symptoms with mine was heat flushes from the middle top of my head that would just 'flush' down into my c spine then gone. and i just 'felt" kind of 'off" inside my head. my wonderful neurosurgeon who had also done my cord surgery simply had a "hunch' and sent me. i WAS shocked tho that i had one. unfortuently i no longer have that amazing NS since he retired on me in 06. now i am trying to even find one who will just touch me with the mess i now have in my c spine. and so it goes.

has your doc tried or have you actually called the ins co to see if they would at least okay that much? i have had to make many lil 'calls' to my ins co over the many years of dealing with all my ongoing crap stemming from my cavernoma inside my cord crap then the aftermath of dealing with my deeper spinal cord injuries from the resection surgery to get it the heck out before another bleed occured. if you can simply make them 'feel' for you and humanize yourself to them, it CAN usually work out in your favor. this HAS worked for me when something WAS desperately needed and i was denied. i spoke to the woman in charge at my ins co and after telling her what i was dealing with and then asking her, 'what would YOU do if you were in MY shoes', there was a pause in the conversation, and THEN i got a badly needed referral. it could work if you have not yet tried talking directly TO your ins co. hopefully your next ins co WILL okay at least the initial needed testing if these people wont. but it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. then you wouldn't be slamming the NEW ins co with a ton of stuff right away? just a thought.

you just DO deserve and need some answers and a real diagnosis of what IS generating the facial symptoms, and all your radicu stuff too.

while you do share some similarities with SG here, it really 'sounds like' two different possible triggers? but when it comes to the human body and just what IS even possible, it really would be hard to say. we ARE all soo very highly individual in how even 'our' own anatomy can be down to where certain nervesor even organs 'should be located' but are a bit off the norm too. even our dermatomes can overlap in certain areas depending on how 'we' are created then just born that way. take care, marcia

**First off I would like to thank ALL of you who have replied to me. To Marcia I know that after my face numbness stopped all of a sudden right by my nose but my cheek part(sorry can't describe) started twitching for a couple of minutes non stop that was another symptom for me. As well as my eyelids and side of my lip and nostril. I do have a copy of my EMG/NCV and it does not have anything at the top which says normal or not normal I had it done right in the neuros office..but on the last page it says Summary of findings Conclusions are:
1-Bilateral Mild CTS
2. Right C7 C8 Radiculopathy
3. Bilateral L% Radiculopathy
and signed by the doctor.

The abnormalities on my report under EMG say:
I see C8-T1, C7-8, (C5-6 is Normal), C6-7-8, S1-S2 are normal,L4-L5,L2-4 are normal BUT no C1-C4 noted anywhere!---I don't know what is causing the pinch because can't get MRI I was just told to wear a neck brace,wrist brace and back brace.

BUT I don't see where anything says C1-4!! This is not on my results at all as being normal or not normal..If I got tested wouldn't it say it on there? How do you test C1-C4?? She inserted two needles bottom of neck I think on arm too as well as back.

Yeah I didn't ask the doc about the MRA I figured I would wait until the MRI in Jan. I'm just so frustrated this all started in September and I was finally excited to know about pinched nerves because I thought that was why I had face numbness...Then she told me NO not the cause....I been stressed,depressed,and crying for 3 months constantly looking at MS meds and researching MS because I know this is what I probably have...I hope not but I mean everything else is ruled out and all I have are pinched nerves and then all these weird sensations. I hate that my INS company wouldn't let me get my MRI I called up but the lady doing approval said they said all my tests were not medically necessary I mean how do they know they are NOT even doctors!! One day you have a normal life then the next everything can go wrong. My head feels very weird too at times I have my ears plugging up for no reason since before all of this and now pulsing and I remember bending over to get my youngest daughter out the crib and a lot of pressure was in my head. Right now my left ear is aching but I have no ear infection and it feels tight and just spasmed or something I don't know what to do I feel like something bad might happen to me! The ER doesn't care.Thank you so much for your replies.

Hey,
Just wanted to give an update. I recently had a MRI of my head,C and T spine with and without contrast. I have never been sooo uncomfortable..not talking about being in the machine but this test took over an hour and I could not move as everyone knows. My hands went completely numb after 10 minutes of staying still and was painful. I wanted to shake them sooo bad but couldn't. My behind went numb as well as my legs numb..omg talk about pain. Well I haven't went for the results yet but sometime next week. I have noticed my neck has started to make cracking sounds when I turn my head....and my neck hurts worse than before. My fingers also have a cooling sensation in them sometimes.. guess that's my carpal tunnel.That's all for now.

hi SG, really sorry it has taken me this long to pop back in here, been dealing with a TON of my and my sons medical crap, and of course brand new insurance that so sucks. just a wee too much, ya know?

as far as your EMG goes, they may do theirs different and not state what all of mine did as far as being an 'abnormal or normal' test, but they would classify yours as being abnormal only because you ARE showing impairment within the nerve flow somewhere at all kinda thing? and if it does NOT actually state findings for c 1-4 then they did not do those levels, which may or may not(more likely not, have shown anything really useful anyways. the MRI would show anything up there in that area too).

the fact that even tho i KNOW the MRI was highly uncomfortable with what symptoms were attacking you, that IS an actual good thing? it just would tend to really 'show' on the films a more exacting reason for your symptoms vs if there was not 'active symptoms" showing during the actual MRI series would. so that probably showed much more than if you had NOT shown esp numbness. something would have HAD to have been severely impacting nerve flow somewhere. and with the use of the constrast with this too, findings were more than likely much easier to pick up. did you obtain all copies of all the reposrts? i hope so, you just do NEED them for YOUR files,and to post what that interpretting rad saw,and i would imagine you have also reseen your doc too by now? what did he or she have to say overall?

i am just really wondering what you found out after the much more in depth and contrasted MRIs too? with what your findings just were on the EMG/NCV, there would also have to be something up top that correlates with those findings as far as possible stenosis at particular foramens or herniations or a whole lot of other just possible "somethings" up there. but if you DO have CT in both hands, that would be impacting only your median nerve(if i remember right, that is c 6?). that is the only one that actually runs thru that carpal tunnel. so i really am wondering what was found, and of course, just how YOU are doing SG. and again, i really am sorry i was not here to help when you posted hon. marcia